Expendable hemostat

ABSTRACT

An expendable, strong, resilient, springy hemostat composed of two soft wire parts pivotally connected together between their jaw and handle ends and having loops at their finger ends and notches on one loop engageable with a latch on the other handle for maintaining the jaw ends in gripping relation.

United States Patent Hobbs, II

[15] 3,654,930 [451 Apr. 11, 1972 154] EXPENDABLE HEMOSTAT [72]Inventor: James C. Hobbs, I1, 4383 lngraham Highway, Miami, Fla. 33133[22] Filed: June 18, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 47,436

[521 US. Cl ..l28/325, 128/322 I51] lnt.Cl ..A61b17/12,A61b 17/28 Fieldof Search 128/322, 325

l 56 l References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,275,520 8/1918 Bell..128/325X 1,806,808 5/1931 Lahey ..l28/322 3,404,683 10/1968Eizenberg.... 128/322 3,463,157 8/1969 Hunt ..128/325 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 28,71 1 1902 Great Britain ..l28/322 PrimaryExaminer-Channing L. Pace Attorney-Watts, Hoffmann, Fisher & Heinke 57]ABSTRACT An expendable, strong, resilient, springy hemostat composed oftwo soft wire parts pivotally connected together between their jaw andhandle ends and having loops at their finger ends and notches on oneloop engageable with a latch on the other handle for maintaining the jawends in gripping relation.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR n 1972 3, 654,930

INVENTOR.

J4M$ c. #0555, I

EXPENDABLE HEMOSTAT DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Prior to the presentinvention, it was the practice in the medical field to use hemostatsmade by forging or machining a piece of alloy steel. Such hemostats wereused many times before being replaced. Although the relatively highfirst cost was thus spread over many separate uses, the practice ofrepeated uses has not been satisfactory. For a long time high cost ofreprocessing a hemostat, after each use, back through sterilization andpackaging and stocking in a supply room has been excessive. There hasalso been a widespread unfilled need for a disposable hemostat with alow first cost without compromising service quality or reliability. Inaddition, there also has been a long felt need for a suitable andsatisfactory mass produced, low cost hemostat for field and emergencyequipment in both the military and civil defense programs.

Prior hemostats have been made to satisfy a particular repetitiveservice requirement but have not been suitable for a one-time userequirement.

SUMMARY The hemostat of this invention, although formed from inexpensivewire, is rugged enough and sufficiently precise to meet the rigidservice requirements of medical practice.

The simplicity of structure compared to former more elaborate hemostatswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdetailed disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings constituting a part ofthis disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the general configuration of the hemostatand the use of two pieces of wire to form the two parts;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the hemostat of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial elevational view of the hemostat of FIG. 1, showingthe relationship of the latch and notches on the parts of the hemostat;and

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the underside of FIG. 1 showing theformation of a notch on one part of the hemostat.

The hemostat of the drawings comprises a first wire part 1 and a secondwire part 3 pivotally connected by pin 5 between their jaw and handleends. Each of the parts 1 and 3 includes a jaw 7 and handle 9. The jaws7 have serrated clamping surfaces 11 so formed as to mesh with oneanother when the surfaces are brought into engagement with each other.The jaws are so shaped that the serrations at the tips first engage andthen the other serrations progressively engage toward the pin 5 as theclamping pressure increases. This manner of progressive engaging actionresults in part from the curvature of the jaws and in part from thespringy, resilient nature of the wire.

Each handle 9 has a shank 13 and a loop. These loops are formed bybending the ends of the shanks outwardly away from each other and thenback toward the shanks. One loop 15 extends near to its shank while theother loop 16 extends past its shank and to a position beyond the othershank when the jaws are in clamping position. Loop 16 is provided withlatches 17 on the surface opposed to the other shank and those latchesare engageable with a notch 19 formed on the other shank.

The loop 16 is offset relative to the other shank so that when the jawsare brought into clamping position the latch 17 will come into, andremain in, engagement with the latch. The resiliency and springiness ofthe wire parts together with the offset relationship of loop 16 and theother shank insure that the latch and notch will remain in engagementand will hold the jaws in engagement with any material therebetween. Theclamping force thus developed will be proportional to the amount ofbending of the shank portion and to the particular latch which isengaged by the notch.

The loops 15 and 16 are of sizes and shapes convenient for the insertionof the human finger or thumb and, customarily,

one loop receives the thumb and the other loop receives the second orthird finger of the surgeons hand. When the jaws of the hemostat aremoved to unclamping position, the thumb or finger may be removed fromits loop and the hemostat turned to rest on the back of the surgeon'shand where it is ready for immediate use when desired.

The parts 1 and 3 of the illustrated hemostat may be quickly andinexpensively made of wire of a suitable composition. Short lengths ofsuch wire and having a diameter substantially that of the shanks of thehemostat are stamped, punched and formed with the necessaryconfigurations at each end and then bent to the general shape shown inFIG. 1. The insertion and riveting of pin 5 is a simple operation whichcan be performed rapidly and inexpensively. The preceding steps may becarried out by using high production capacity wire forming tools. Noexpensive machinery or machining operations or excessive handling of theparts from one manufacturing step to the other is required.

Numerous compositions of wire possessing the desired characteristics ofstrength, resiliency, springiness and lightness may be used in makinghemostats embodying the present invention. I prefer to use a wirecomposed of a commercially available, age-hardening aluminum alloy. Suchan alloy is one in which the alloying constituents, such as copper,magnesium or zinc have a higher degree of solubility in the aluminum atelevated temperatures than at room temperatures. When such an alloy isheated at an elevated temperature, the solubility of the aluminum forthe alloying ingredients increases and when the alloy is cooled, thesolubility decreases slowly with resultant precipitation of part of thealloying elements out of solution. Such precipitation may take placeover several hours or even as much as 4 days and is known as agehardening.

During the time the alloying ingredients are largely retained insolution, the alloy is ductile and may be worked readily. As the alloycools and more of the alloying ingredients precipitate out of solutionin the aluminum, the alloy becomes stronger and harder.

Having thus described this invention in such full, clear, concise andexact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, and having set forth the best modecontemplated of carrying out this invention, I state that the subjectmatter which I regard as being my invention is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in what is claimed, it being understood thatequivalents or modifications of, or substitutions for, parts of theabove specifically described embodiment of the invention may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in whatis claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A resilient hemostat composed of two wire parts pivotally connectedbetween their ends, said parts being strong, springy and resilient, saidparts having jaws at one end, shanks at the other end provided with openended loops, a terminal portion of one loop having latches engageablewith a notch on the op posed shank.

2. The combination of elements set forth in claim 1 in which the shankand loop portions of the handles of the wire parts are of substantiallythe same diameter and the loop carrying notches is offset relative tothe opposed shank.

1. A resilient hemostat composed of two wire parts pivotally connectedbetween their ends, said parts being strong, springy and resilient, saidparts having jaws at one end, shanks at the other end provided with openended loops, a terminal portion of one loop having latches engageablewith a notch on the opposed shank.
 2. The combination of elements setforth in claim 1 in which the shank and loop portions of the handles ofthe wire parts are of substantially the same diameter and the loopcarrying notches is offset relative to the oppoSed shank.